Star U.S. mayors poised to rocket up the political ladder

When Hillary Clinton spoke before 280 mayors in San Francisco Saturday, she gave a respectful nod to the elected leaders who still largely enjoy what most Washington politicians sorely lack — credibility with voters.

“There’s no Democratic or Republican way to pick up the garbage,” the Democratic presidential candidate said to laughs at the U.S. Conference of Mayors, gathered for a three-day conference at the San Francisco Hilton Hotel. “You pick it up or you don’t.”

Clinton wasn’t alone in acknowledging the growing clout of urban leaders, who have shown political muscle on planning, economic and quality of life issues that often extend far beyond their city limits.

“Mayors get the job done,” President Obama agreed in his speech to the mayors Friday. But for them to succeed, he said, “it’s not sufficient to blather on — you actually have to do something.”

With polls showing that three-quarters of American voters have little confidence in Congress and two-thirds worry about the country’s direction, experts say it may be the roll-up-your-sleeves mayors, tackling issues like climate change, education and police brutality, who are in the best position to shake up the national agenda — and move up the political ladder.

“Mayors are what we call open-source leaders: We don’t care if the ideas are from the Democrats or the Republicans, left or right, business or labor,” said Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, outgoing head of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

“We just want to get things done. ... We can’t point the finger, we can’t blame it on someone else,” said Johnson, who was repeatedly mentioned as a future political star. No wonder there’s a saying, he noted, that voters can usually name just two politicians — “the mayor and the president.”

Closer to constituents

Eric McGhee, a research fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California, said that’s because unlike Congress, where debate is often mired in partisan quicksand, “we have a lot more and greater experimentation at the local level” on issues directly related to the lives of average Americans.

So today, mayors are more than ever poised to be the rising stars of American politics, “because they have the flexibility to pursue initiatives ... and often open up bigger topics of debate,” he said.

“The city, always the human habitat of first resort, has in today’s globalizing world once again become democracy’s best hope,” with mayors the key to that change, writes political theorist Benjamin R. Barber in his book, “If Mayors Ruled the World: Dysfunctional Nations, Rising Cities.”

“Urbanity may not be our nature, but ... by chance or design, it defines how we live, work, play and associate,” he writes. And with more than half of the world’s population now living in cities — which comprise nearly 80 percent of the developing world — he argues, that’s where politics matters most.

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, who had a star role as host of the conference, said that the powerful mandate of the job is improving lives — and that is “what binds us as mayors.”

“Whether it’s infrastructure, race relations, police relations, it’s got to end up that we have residents feeling like they’re part of a city that’s diverse and inclusive,” he said Saturday. “We have no excuse. We can’t hide in indecision.”

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer agrees that direct accountability is the difference for many in the mayors’ seat. “We can’t sit around and pontificate. We live with our constituents. ... You get feedback constantly throughout the day,” he said. “We aren’t removed from our constituents like people are in the state capitals and federal capitals.”

Gov. Jerry Brown, former mayor of Oakland, is only the most recent California mayor to prove that that spotlight and intimate connection can be a blessing when it comes to moving up the political ladder.

On the national front, former Newark Mayor Corey Booker, who marshaled social media and urban issues to forge a national profile and then made his way to the U.S. Senate, represents the cadre of mayors turned political stars because of their sometimes politically risky work on city issues.

In California, prominent mayors — and former mayors like San Francisco’s Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles’ Antonio Villaraigosa — dominate the list of rising political stars.

Up-and-comers

On the Democratic side, those include Johnson and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.

Garcetti, rumored to be interested in a future statewide run — perhaps for Senate or governor — was the star of a San Francisco fundraiser during the mayor’s conference hosted by Lenny Mendonca, director emeritus of management consultants McKinsey & Co., and Wade and Lorna Randlett, two major Democratic campaign contributors.

On the Republican side, Fresno’s Ashley Swearengin, who ran a strong campaign for state controller in 2014, and San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer are repeatedly cited as the state GOP’s best hopes for statewide office.

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, another to watch in future state politics, says she was born and raised in her city, and that gives her a deep appreciation for “its uniqueness, its potential, its history and its future and how those ... things are inextricably linked.”

Since being elected late last year, Schaaf has already directly confronted her city’s considerable challenges of urban development, crime, income inequality and gentrification, education and jobs. She hears from her constituents constantly as she “bumps into them in the grocery stores.”

But it is the dynamism of leadership in America’s urban centers, she said, that is where the country’s future — and solutions to key problems — really lies.

“There is a visceral connectedness mayors have in their towns,” she said. “We can’t afford to be bound in philosophy or partisanship because we have real problems to solve every day — and they’re right on our doorsteps.”

Lizzie Johnson is a recovering political reporter who now covers general assignment stories, frequently writing about environmental issues and major breaking news across the state. She led The Chronicle’s coverage of the Wine Country Wildfires — the most destructive blazes in state history. Johnson joined The Chronicle in 2015 to cover City Hall and moved to the metro desk in 2017. Before joining the newsroom, Johnson worked at the Chicago Tribune, the Dallas Morning News, the Omaha World-Herald and El Sol de San Telmo, a daily in Buenos Aires. A Nebraska native, she is an alumna of the University of Missouri-Columbia. She is an eternal optimist and aspiring golden-doodle owner.